Just when you thought Alex Toys couldn’t shoehorn one more groovy item into its crafts line-up, here comes the Color a Tote Bag. This is a relatively large (33 cm x 26 cm), open-topped bag with two orange webbing handles long enough for it to be slung over the shoulder. The real point of attraction for this bag, though — like all the Color-able products from Alex — is that the recipient can choose and apply her own color scheme to the paisley-printed front side.

The bag comes with a set of six permanent markers in bright tones of pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The markers are small but more than adequate to the task.

Alex Toys also provides a “Plan Your Design Online” widget on its website, where kids can try out various color schemes before making a start on the actual tote bag. It’s interesting to see how different the bag looks by choosing different colors for the background, for example — and although it’s difficult to really go wrong with these kits, anyone who’s ever had a child burst into tears as a result of a “mistake” will appreciate the opportunity to test drive their choices before committing pen to project.